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The Plains to Peaks Post is published quarterly by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine MidContinental Region, at the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library at the University of Utah.
10 North 1900 East, Building 589
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-5890

Libraries and Medicare Bonuses, Penalties

Background on Medicare Bonuses and Penalties

For the past two years, Medicare reimbursements have been tied to how well a hospital meets effective care and readmission metrics. If the hospital does better than the quality care standard, it gets a bonus. If the hospital doesn’t meet the standard, it gets a penalty. The hospital can get a bigger bonus or bigger penalty based on how well it meets the standard or not. For the readmission metric, institutions want to stay below the set limit of hospital readmissions. If they exceed this limit, they receive a penalty.

Mini-study

The NN/LM MCR distributed a questionnaire through our listserv to hospital Network members. We wanted to hear what members are doing to assist their hospitals in addressing the Medicare metrics since this can translate into dollars gained (bonuses) or dollars lost (penalties). Activities of our members would then be shared with others in the region to stimulate ideas of what librarians can do.

The questionnaire was a very short one. Members were asked if they were involved in programs looking at readmission rates or quality control at their institution. If they answered “yes,” they were asked to describe their activity. They were also presented a list of the Medicare metrics and were asked to check off all the ones to which their activities relate. (more…)

Best Practices for Resource Sharing

When you see or hear the phrase best practices for resource sharing what comes to mind? Ten Network members recently shared their favorite resource sharing best practices during the February 2014 Breezing Along with the RML webinar. (Session recording: ow.ly/tNmJm) Every one of these people have many years of experience with resource sharing. (more…)

Supporting Effective Systematic Reviews

The Professional Development Award I received from the NN/LM MCR allowed me to attend “Systematic Review Workshop: The Nuts and Bolts for Librarians,” in October 2013 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My experience was very positive and I have been able to use this training to more effectively support the execution of systematic review research for my liaison departments’ faculty, residents, and students. Learn more about the workshop here.

Resources:

Library Support for Researchers

This article provides a recap of what the NN/LM MCR has done to help librarians become better informed about methods to support researchers at their institution and discusses current initiatives devoted to supporting e-science (big data, data curation/management, and cyber infrastructure). It also discusses a research question being addressed by the MCR’s Library Support for Researchers Advisory Group. The article ends with a description of resources that can help librarians become more knowledgeable about e-science and provide guidance on starting an e-science program at your library.

Recap

For several years the MCR has conducted activities with the intent of helping Network members be better able to support the researchers at their institutions. In 2012, we hosted an in-person workshop providing an introduction to e-science with many Network members in attendance. This was followed later, by a webinar discussion about the librarian’s role in supporting e-science efforts at their academic institution. The webinar resulted in an article, written by Claire Hamasu, Barb Jones, and Betsy Kelly, titled, “Discussing ‘eScience and the Evolution of Library Services,” which was published in the Journal of eScience Librarianship. (more…)

Whooo Says…

Dear Whooo,

I’m a hospital librarian in a medium sized community hospital. As part of the “baby boomer” generation, I plan to retire within the next few years. I’ve been watching the hospital trend of closing libraries, or not replacing professional librarians when the current librarian retires or leaves. I’m very concerned that this could happen in my case. I try to let my manager know how involved I am in the operations of the hospital, and the impact I have on the goals of the hospital, but I’m still worried that the management team doesn’t consider my position essential. What should I do?

Clendening History of Medicine Library

The Clendening History of Medicine Library was named after Dr. Logan Clendening, whose collection of historical medical books formed the nucleus of the library. After graduating from the Kansas University medical school in 1907 with the second graduating class, he took post-graduate courses at Harvard and in Chicago, and in 1909 joined a private practice. That same year, in addition to publishing his first medical article, he was asked to travel with a Kansas City group on a European tour as their guest and private physician. These trips and writing continued through 1911, when he took time to attend some additional medical courses in London, Berlin, and Edinburgh, locations steeped in the history of medicine. For someone who was known to live life to the fullest, these opportunities had to influence his intellectual curiosity and continued writing. (more…)

Developed resources reported in this internet site are supported by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH) under cooperative agreement number UG4LM012344 with the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.